RAI scores with Serie A soccer

Nabs rights for upcoming seasons for $44 mil

Italo pubcaster RAI has secured the all-important Serie A soccer highlights for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons for $44 million.

Even partial coverage of the top Serie A league is regarded as a key ratings winner in soccer-mad Italy.

The news comes as the Italian Soccer League says it will mount a legal challenge after a Milan court blocked its $1.7 billion sale of live broadcasting rights for the same two seasons to Sky Italia.

Judges ruled that an objection by small satcaster Conto, on the grounds of anti-competition behavior, had to be considered.

Meanwhile, some Serie A soccer bosses are complainingthat the MP & Silva international sports media company has been charged too little for worldwide broadcasting rights for these two seasons.

It snapped them up at the weekend for a relatively modest $270 million. “Our (TV) rights are worth much more,” Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis told the website of the La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.